When users chat via instant messaging applications, the chats often involve names of places, specific terms, and other keywords. If a user desires to obtain more information about certain keywords, he may need to manually start a search engine application to search for the keywords to obtain information associated with the keywords. For example, a user may receive a name of a place: “xi si.” If the user would like to find out the driving directions to “xi si,” he may need to start a map application. The user may enter a starting point and then enter “xi si” as the end point, and find the driving directions to “xi si.” In another example, a user may receive from a friend a technical term, such as “wireless network controller.” The user may start a browser application, and then enter the keyword “wireless network controller” to search for the definitions and other related information for the term.
The above search examples involve processes for information matching. However, users often need to manually switch from an instant messaging interface to a search interface and then enter keywords to obtain the relevant images or text data. This kind of manual operations are so tedious that the users may be reluctant to start the information matching (i.e., searching) process. In addition, manually starting a search engine and switching back and forth between the instant messaging software and the search engine may interrupt the online chat experience, causing inconveniences to the users.
The disclosed method and system are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.